Filing and joining gauge for saw chains



April 29, 1952 A, F STONE ET AL 2,594,821

FILING AND JOINING GAUGE FOR SAW CHAINS Filed Dec. 5, 1950 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 4A UIII s AHM INVENTORS i BY ATTORNEYS April 29, 1952 A. F. sToNE ETAL FILING AND JOINING GAUGE FOR SAW CHAINS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 5, 1950 ztqdm EMP-anker# INVENTORS ATTORNEYS.

April 29, 1952 A, F, STONE ET AL 2,594,821

FILING AND JOINING GAUGE FOR SAW CHAINS Filed DSC. 5, 1950 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Apr. 29, 1952 OFFICE FILING AND `OININ G GAUGE FOR SAW CHAINS Albert F. Stone, Ernest A. Hayden, and Howard W. Parker, Callahan, Calif.

Application December 5, 1950, Serial No. 199,194

'1 claims. 1

This invention relates to a filing and'joining gauge for saw chains suchv as used on power vchain saws. 'I eeth design and arrangement, in saw chains, -varies considerably. Some saw chains, called router-type chains, are provided with cutting teeth alongside each of which is a `somewhat lower tooth called a depth regulator or rider which controls the depth of cut made by the cutting tooth. In other designs the cutting teeth 'are followed by raking teeth. While the raking teeth do not closely resemble the depth regulators of router-type chains in appearance or manner of operation, the rakers do have one characteristic in common With the depth regulators, which is that they are lower than the cutting teeth.l

The saw chain is mounted upon an elongated, generally elliptical, cutter bar having a periph'- eral groove in which the saw chain rides, the saw chain traveling around the bar in the manner 'of a belt upon its pulleys. The continued cutting eiciency of the chain, in this connection,

upon the teeth. Y

AIn general, the filing of a saw chain has been a tedious manual operation involving in most cases the removal of thesaw chain from the cutter bar with the teeth being filed separately by ahand file. A Concerning the above, it is an important 'ob- -ject of the present invention to provide a device ,which will result in proper joining of the cutting teeth'in relation to each otherduring the sharpening of each tooth; a proper height variation between the cutting teeth and the raking teeth;

and a proper height variation between router cutting teethand their depth regulators.

- Another important object is to provide a device of the typestated which" will be s'o constructed as toadapt it for filing a saw chain anywhere, while the saw chain is in place on the cutter bar, and this without changing the adjustment of the chain from the adjustment that -is ordinarilyused in sawing operation'.

- Anotherimportant object is to provide la de.-

-vice of the character described which will be Still another 'of the guide blocks and connecting` arms.

Vfactor is the provision of a properback slope 2' simple in operation, so that anyv chain saw operator can do a precision saw filing.

Another important object is to provide a ling and joining gauge as described which Will flle and join the teeth while the saw chain is being run upon the cutter bar, thus to complete the conditioning of the chain for further efficient use, a minimum of time.

' With the foregoing and other objects inview which will appear as the description proceeds,

theinvention consists of certain novel details of :construction and combinations of parts hereinafter morel fully described and pointed out in the claims, it being understood that changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of parts Without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

Referring to the drawings:

*j Figure 1 is a side elev tional view 'of a filing 20 and joining gauge constructed in accordance with the invention, a cutter bar and saw chain being shown fragmentarily.v

Fig. 2 isl a top plan view.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3`3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a section on line 4 -4 .of Fig. l.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one form'of iioat plate.

Fig. 6 is afragmentary perspective view of the oatplate of Fig. 5 inverted'. f

Fig. 7- is a fragmentary perspective --view of one l Fig. Sis a fragmentary enlarged perspective vview of thecenter portion'of the .device illustrating a form of oat plate usable-therewith,

a portion of a saw chain and hand le being illustrated in proper position relative to said float y Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8 but illustrating a modified form of float plate usable on another` type of saw chain, said other type being illustrated in Fig. 9.

Fig." 10` is a fragmentary side elevation of one end portion of a modified form ofthe device.

Fig.' 11 is a section on line II-'II of Fig. V10.

' Referring to the drawings in detail, a body generally designated 5 is formed with a longitudinal :bottom channel l-'extending from'end' t'o end of the body and opening at opposite endsof the body so that said body can straddle a -cutter'bar seen from Fig. 3, is directly opposite the stationary clamp plate l.

Threaded in the clamp plate 7 is a plurality of set screws I3 equipped with suitable lock nuts, said screws I3 adapted to be threaded against one side of the bar B, while the movable clamp plate 8 is adapted to be engaged with the other side of said bar `for the purpose of mounting the body rigidly upon the bar B in a selected adjusted position, so that said bar B itself comprises the base for the ling and joining operations.

Intermediate its ends. the body B 'is out away as at I4 (Figs. 1 and 2) to expose the medial portion of the channel 6, thus to provide side rests I5 for a le oat plate, to be described hereinl.

after.

The body 5 is also formed integrally with end extensions IS (Fig. 1). The parts which have so far been described, with the exception of the cutter bar B and saw chain S., can all be considered as cooperating to provide vthe body or base of the device.

Mounted below the extension I6 for up `and down sliding movement against the end walls of the 'body are the guide blocks or brackets Il .formed with the bottom channels I8 adapted 'to provide extensions of the channel '6, said guide blocks being rigidly connected by elongated connecting arms I 9 extended longitudinally oi opposite sides of the body.

Threadable into the channels I8 of the respec- -tive guide blocks are the "locking screws 20, that lextend through threaded openings 2I lformed in said guide blocks. Formed in the top walls of the guide blocks are the threaded openings 22 into which extend the threaded studs 23 .that extend upwardly through, and are swivelled in, the end extensions I6 of the body and have at their upper -ends the knobs 24 rigid with the studs for rotating said threaded studs.

As particularly seen from Fig. 2, each knob 24 is formed with a series of circumferentially spaced peripheral notches 25 each associated wit-h a suitable indicium, and receivable in aselected notch .of each knob is the spring detent 26. Thus, by rotary adjustment of the respective knobs 24, `the guide blocks I1 can be raised -or lowered selected distances, and are retained in their adjusted positions by means of the detents 26. In this connection, we have found it particularly advantageous to space the notches at lsuch ia distance -as will vcause each notch to representa -vertical movement of the guide `blocks Iof .005 inch, and thus it is 4seen that micro-adjustment 'of said guide blocks is provided, for reasons to be described.

The operation of ling and joining the cutting teeth C of 'the saw chain S may now be noted. In the form Aof chain illustrated,` it may be noted that cutting teeth C will alternate with the raking teeth or rakers R.

As a first step in the operation, an ordinary straight sided file F is first positioned within the bottom channel 6 of the base, and this file is of a length that will cause the :ends of the le to lextend into the channels I8 of the-guide blocks.

true longitudinal alignment with the saw chain S and its vcutter bar B, when the movable clamp 4 plate 8 is tightened againstthe other side of the cutter bar.

When these adjustments have been made, the movable clamp plate 8 is loosened by means of the clamp screw I and the gauge is positioned upon the bar, preferably near the center of the bar, with the i-lle F resting upon two or more cutters C. The gauge is now securely tightened by means of the clamping screw I0. File F is then elevated by means of the control knobs 24, until the ile will clear the highest cutting tooth C in the chain.

The saw chain S is now run manually in a reverse direction to its cutting direction, as shown Vby the arrow at the right of Fig. l, while the le is lowered by means of the knobs 24 so as to make contact with, and lle oilc a portion of, the tops of said cutters C. The procedure is continued until all the cutters C are reduced to an equal height, and this completes the filing and joining operation of the cutting teeth C.

A router-type chain illustrated in Fig. 9 and having cutting teeth A and depth regulators B.

'is similarly handled, that is, the chain is run manually around the cutter bar below la le VF positioned as in Figs. 1 and 2, so as to .join the cutters A.

The filing of the raisers R or regulators B is .the next operation, and for this purpose the iile F is removed. In place of the iile, a float plate .is utilized. At this point, it should be noted that the float plate construction and formation will differ according to the particular formation of the teeth being conditioned. The float plate illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 and in dotted outline in Fig. 2 is one devised for the saw .chain illustrated in Fig. 9 and includes side wings 2'1 formed with inwardly extended slots 2.8, through which slots extend vthe screws 29 threadable into .the connecting rarms I9 of the guide block assembly. Thus, the float plate can loe-tightly mounted upon the .connecting arms, extending across and through the bottom of the recess I4 of the base.

The body `of the noat plate :illustrated rin Figs. 5 and 6 is further formed 'with a fiat portion 30 in which .is formed a longitudinal slot' I, this com prising la slot through which .a depth regulator B can extend upwardly. 'The end .of the Vbody where .the slot opens is formed with arcuate beveled cutaway portions 32, to provide aclearance for adjacentcutt'ing VtoothrA, with which the depth regulator is integral.

The other end 33 of the noa't `-plate is 'formed with an inwardly extended shallow arcuate recess as particularly well shown in Fig. 5. This to provide a clearance for the cutting tooth Anext preceding the regulator B.

In Vuse of this form of lloat plate, assuming that the joining of the Acutting teeth A has been completed, the device is removed from the chai-nsaw bar and the joining nle 'taken out. The arms I9, that support theoat plate, are then raised to their maximum extent, by rotation of the con trol knobs 2s. Should, during this operation, the control 'knobs move slightly pastzero at--the location of the counter pin 26, 'they are returned so that said pin lenters the zero notch.

The float plate is now inserted in the recess 'il and secured by the screws 29 to the `connecting arms I9, the Aposition of the float plate being illustrated in dot-ted lines in Fig. 2. The gauge is now placed upon the approximate center of thecu-tter har B. The float plate is now adjusted laterally so that the depth regulator '-B extends upwardly through the slo't Il and is thentightened down 'by mea-ns'cf the screws 29.

The user now adjusts the iloat plates for iiling depth, by lowering the float plates through the medium of the control knobs 24 until the desired filing depth is obtained. For example, if it is desired to iile the regulators so that their top surfaces are disposed a distance of .045 inch below the top surfaces of the cutting teeth A, the control knobs. would be rotated a distance of nine notches, so that the counter pins 26 engage in the notches designated by the numeral 9, each notch representing a downward movement of the control arms I9 of .005 inch. If it is desired to rile the regulators .025 inch below` the cutting teeth, the control knobs would be rotated to notch 5, and so on. In this connection, at the time the gauge was placed on the approximate A'center of the cutter bar, it would have been simply positioned to rest upon the teeth, so that the top surfaces of the cutting teeth A would engage and support the roof of the channel 6.

Considering now Figs. 8 and 9, in Fig. 8 a body 34 corresponding to the body 5 except in the matter of outer conguration, is disposed between oat plate arms 35 corresponding to the arms I9 in the first form of the invention. The arms 35 are provided with centrally disposed shallow depressions 33, having threaded openings `in which are threaded screws 31. In the form illustrated in Fig. 8, only one pair of screws is used as compared to the two pairs illustrated in the first form of the invention. k

The float plate illustrated in Fig. 8 is formed in two wholly separate pieces or sections 38, the top surfaces of which are sloped as at 39 corresponding to the angle of back rake of the teeth C or R in the form of the saw chain illustrated in Figxf.

Each iloat plate section is provided with an open ended slot 48 having beveled side walls, and on positioning of the oat plate sections upon the arms 35, the screws 31 are adapted to be received in the slots 40 and threaded downwardly so as to engage the beveled side walls of the slots and securely x the iioat plate sections in position. In this connection, in view of the length of the slots 48 it may be noted that each iioat plate 'section can be adjusted laterally, and therefore, the slot defined by the space between the iloat plate sections can be adjusted as to width,`so that the iioat plate sections can be adjusted laterally toward or away from each other for gripping or releasing a saw chain S extending through the slot deiined between the iioat plate sections.

The float plate illustrated in Fig. 8 is for the purpose of ling back slope upon cutter teeth C or rakers R, on a saw chain of the type illustrated in this iigure. Assuming that it is desired to le back slope on the rakers R, with said rakers to be disposed a prescribed distance below the cutters C. the gauge would be positioned upon the saw chain in the same manner as described with reference to the first form of iioat plate, and the control knobs would be adjusted the desired number of notches. The float plate sections would then be adjusted toward the saw chain at opposite sides of the saw chain, and will prevent wobble" of the chain in the chain saw bar groove, and will additionally provide a solid abutment engaging one side of the raker tooth being led. The file F is now manually grasped and is reciprocated laterally over the sloped top surfaces 39, and will le back slope upon the rakers R down to the level of the inclined surfaces 39 of the iloat plate.

' In'Fig. 9 a oat plate is illustrated which is like that of Fig. 8 except for having a horizontal rather than an inclined top surface. This plate is also formed in sections 4l having slots 42 receiving the screws 31. The plate of Fig. 9, howf; ever, is for use in ling depth regulators of a router-type chain, and is used alternatively to the form of float plate illustrated in Figs. 5v and 6. The manner of use is the same as said first form of float plate, and it will be understood that when the float lplate arms 35 have been lowered the selected number of thousandths of an inch, the iile F is transversely reciprocated across the iioat plate section so as to file down the depth' regulators B to the desired distance below .the tops of the cutters A.

From the above it may be seen that the cutters C and rakersR, or combined routing and cutting teeth and their depth regulators, may be led in absolute contiguity without removal of thev saw chain S from the bar B, and without removal, in fact, of the entire power chain saw from its work location. Additionally, not only is the filing an'd joining operation carried out with the saw chain upon the cutter bar or guide plate B, but also, the previously eiected adjustment of the chain upon the bar, wherein the chain was adjusted for ordinary sawing operations, need not be changed in any respect.

As previously mentioned, many types of float plates may be incorporated on the device, such as float plates having surfaces angled to' le side slope on cutting teeth, oat plates having rear slots for ling various angles, and others having adjustable horizontal angles for ling correct back slope on all types of saw teeth. We have found that for most eicient use of the gauge, it should be vplaced on or aboutl the center of the chain saw cutter bar B.l As mentioned, most of these bars are eliptical in form. Therefore, the saw teeth are caused to strike near the center of the joining file which is straight. Since the le is supported at each end, it will have a tendency when struck at its center,

to spring upwardly. Thus, we have found that where a tooth is .004 inch higher than "the lower portion of the iile, and this tooth is fed into fthe gauge by reverse running of the saw chains, the file may remove .002 inch while the springing `ac'- tion of the iile would still allow the tooth to pass. Subsequent passes of the tooth under the iile would remove the remaining .002 inch.

In Figs. 10 and 11 there is illustrated another modified form, specifically adapted to aid this springing action. In this. form of the invention a body 43 is .rigid with end extensions 44 which are integral or otherwise made rigid with blocks 45 having openings 46. The openings 48 are counterbored as at 41, the counterbores extending upwardly through the extensions 44 and blocks 45 and terminating short of the top surfaces of the blocks 45. in the openings 48 and the control knobs 24 are rigidly secured to said studs 48. The studs at their lower ends are provided with the threaded enlargements 49 defining shoulders for engaging the lower ends of springs 50, the upper ends of which engage against the inner walls of the counterbores 41. The shoulders of the enlargements 49 are disposed slightly below the bottom surfaces of the extensions 44 so as to permit the studs 48 limited up and down movement, the studs being yieldably urged downwardly by the expanding action of the springs 58, that are held under compression.

Studs 48 are rotatable theconstruction wherein the .saw chain ,itself 'is .moved instead of the file l.to vcomplete the ,join-- ing operation, while the loperation is carried .out Ain amanner to doprecision joining, with the cutter bar B itself serving as a base for the ydevice vas annule.

vWhat :is .claimed is: i i -l.. A .ling :and joining gauge for .saw :chains comprising an elongated base having a bottom channel .extending .from end .to end thereof, said base adapted to .'straddle :a cutter bar and .saw .chain .mounted on said bar, one side Wall of said channel `.comprising a stationary clamp plate. the other side Wall of said channel adapted zas a movable clamp plate, Vsaid 'clamp plates adapted to engage opposite sides of the cutter 'bar for rigid mounting of .the base upon the cutter bar, `guide blocks mounted for up and down sliding movement :on the end walls .of said base, said Vguide blockshaving bottom channels .registering with the channel of the base and being adapted to support .a yfiling means, end extensions on said fbase .under which said guide blocks are positioned, threaded rstuds svvivel'led .in -said end extensions, said threaded studs being threaded in the guide blocks for ,upzand down adjustment of said guide blocks lonsvvivelling movement ofthe studs Ain the extensions, peripherally notched adjusting -k-nobs vrotatable with fsaid studs and positioned :above the extensions, spring detents mounted on -t-he :base and receivable in selected -notches of the knobs., and connecting bars rigidly connected at opposite ends 'to `.the respective guide blocks and extended .longitudinally of the base at `opposite -sides of :said base.

L2. In `a .saw filing and joining gauge of the type comprising Aan elongated base member hav.- ing'a saw tooth 'receiving groove extending ,longitudinally l:therethrough .and opening through :one sidethereonrsaid base :member also having :are-

cess extending transversely therethrough .and opening through 'the-side thereoreniote .fromfthe ggroove, said recess communicating with the groove .intermediate Vthe ends athereo, :means earried :by the base member .for .engaging theicutter bar of fa A.chain saw and .clamping -thebase merrie ber' on the cutter bar with .the teeth ofthe lGllairi saw accessible through the recess, and means carried bythe base member for clamping an 'elongated saw tooth joining tool l'adjacent the Abottom of the groove, means `for .holding a saw tooth against Alateral lmovement while lingit comprising supporting bars .carried by the base member for movement in parallel relation therewith adjacent opposite sides thereof, and float plates carried by the supporting bars' and extend.- ing into 'the recess .for engaging opposite sidesof a saw tooth. 3. The structure xdefined in claim 2 `in which the oat plates are adjustably lmounted Jon the supporting bars for accommodating saw teeth of varying thicknesses. 4. The structure dened in claim -2 .in which the surfaces ofthe float plates lremotefrom the supporting bars are inclined .to guide .a' iilewhile ling the rake on a saw tooth.

5. Ihe structure dened in claim 2 in which the supporting bars are ajustably connected to the base member adjacent opposite ends thereof. 6. The structure defined in claim 2 in which screws are carried by the -base member adjacent opposite ends Athereof and are threadedly connected to the supporting bars adjacent opposite ends thereof for regulating the 'positions of vthe supporting :bars relative to the base member. 7. vThe structure dened in claim '2 in which ears are carried by the base member and 'pro ject longitudinally therefrom adjacent opposite ends thereof, guide blocks are carried rby the ears for adjustment in paths which Vlie perpendicular to the longitudinal zaxis of the base member and opposite ends ofthe supporting bars are carried by the guide blocks.

ALBERT F. STONE. ERNEST A. 'HAYDEN HOWARDWJPARKER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are o record in the ile of thisjpatent:`

UNITED STATES PNIIENTS 

